Month: June 2024

WELSH TRADITIONS 3 – GATHERING

This time we’ll look at the tradition of GATHERING, collecting, harvesting and foraging various items and crops and from the countryside – and I’ll group them all under the one heading – Casglu – Gathering.

Our forefathers made use of practically everything which grew around them in the countryside – and it was a common sight every autumn to see women and children gathering whatever they could find. At this time of the year their meagre diet of meat and whatever vegetables they could grow, was supplemented by a variety of wild fruit and nuts.

The women – and very often their menfolk too – also gathered the leaves of certain plants, which they would use to prepare medicines and ointments to be used when illness struck or when one of the family sustained an injury. Of course when an illness or an injury proved more serious they would often visit a local ‘wise man’ or ‘soothsayer’ who would provide their own ointments and potions. The most famous family of amateur doctors in Wales is probably the family living in the village of Myddfai near Llanymddyfri in Carmarthenshire known in Welsh as Meddygon Myddfai – the Physicians of Myddfai. (By the way, Myddfai is the village in which King Charles, before he became King, chose to have his Welsh base – Llwynywermwd.) The Meddygon were first mentioned around the 13th Century and their history is bound up with folklore – and the tale of The Lady of the Lake. It was said that their knowledge of herbalism and their healing powers were passed to them by an ancestor who fell in love with the lady who came from the lake – Llyn y Fan Fach – and who passed her knowledge to him before she returned to the lake. Their secret recipes for ointments, medicines, potions and powers to treat various illnesses were passed down the generations – and some of their descendants can still be found in the area today.

Something else collected in the countryside – usually by the women folk – was wool – tufts of wool snagged here and there in the hedgerows – before the sheep were sheared. The wool gathering journey would follow the same footpaths every year and some of these paths have survived to this day and are known as ‘llwybrau gwlân’ (wool paths). The women would stop at farms along the way exchanging shelter, food and local news for odd jobs. If they were lucky, the farmer would have saved a fleece for the women. The right to gather the wool was valuable and young women who were employed as servants would make sure that they were given the two weeks off for wool gathering each year. The women used to carry the wool home in a pillowcase on their backs – and wash it before carding it – combing and disentangling it – often by using teasel heads. It would then be spun – usually by hand – to create balls or skeins of yarn. These might be dyed – using various plants and lichen collected in the area – before being used for knitting

Down the centuries tanneries existed in Wales where animal hides were turned into leather. During this leather making process a chemical compound known as tannin was used – and one source of tannin is tree bark – oak tree bark in particular. As a means of earning a little money, many men would gather oak bark and sell it to the local tannery. This collecting or harvesting had been practised since Norman times and we know that the Cistersian monks also collected oak bark. Spring was the best time to strip the bark from the trees – when the sap was rising and if this was done carefully and at the correct time of the year, the trees would not be harmed and they soon grew a new layer of bark. But because so many people did this at the wrong time, a new Law was passed in 1603 banning the stripping of bark before April 1st and after June 30th.

The men would use a special tool called a ‘barking-iron’ to strip the bark. But it was not only men who did this work – some women helped in the work by stripping the lower part of the tree. As I mentioned, the bark would be sold to the tanneries – and in the 18th Century much of it was also exported to Ireland, Liverpool and Bristol. The last working tannery in Wales – in Rhayader – closed about 60 years ago – but we can still visit it as it was dismantled in 1962 and re- built at the National History Museum in St Fagan.

A little later in the year – between June and August – another crop was harvested – namely that of rushes. As these grow in marshy, boggy land the men – and the children who often accompanied them – would spend a whole day in wet conditions so it was not pleasant work. The crop would be carried home, trimmed and dried, before being used in various ways. Since mediaeval times rushes have been strewn on the floor of houses and often sprinkled with herbs. It must be remembered that the floors of dwellings were often merely compacted earth so the rushes and herbs helped to act as insulation and to absorb dampness and unpleasant smells.

Rushes were also woven into baskets, chair bottoms and matting – and during later times the pith would be used as the wick in the early oil lamps. But long before oil lamps had been developed, rushes were used to create tallow candles or rushlights. This was usually a task undertaken by the women in the family – though the men would help out from time to time. Animal fat would be rendered – often in a specially shaped pot made by the local blacksmith. The reeds would be soaked in the melted fat and then allowed to cool and harden. At the end of a candle making day, the family would have created a good stock for the coming year.

As we have seen, our forefathers were very thrifty and resourceful – making use of more or less everything growing around them. By today, we have lost their knowledge and the many skills they possessed – and on which they depended in order to live from day to day.

Ann M. Jones